]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/a-test-blog-post/feed/0128Journey to GamesCom, Part IIhttps://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-part-ii/
https://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-part-ii/#respondSat, 26 Aug 2017 13:06:41 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=118This blog post covers the second day of the journey of my brother Kenny and I to GamesCom. You can read part one here. Ah, GamesCom 2017. The even so…

Ah, GamesCom 2017. The even so nice, we decided to visit it twice. We had tickets for both Thursday and Friday. After doing the rounds on Thursday we were ready to drop some precision strikes on our unexpecting enemies – the booths of the attendants.

Strange Brigade

Our first stop was at the Strange Brigade booth. This was partially a tactical decision. I’m sorry, Rebellion, but we were partially motivated by the short waiting line. However, the interesting looking booth also played a role. And the fact that we’d seen the E3 trailer at the Microsoft conference.

We got to test the Single Player, which pleased Kenny. He’s not much of a multiplayer person, as in “He hates playing against other people.”

Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter slash action game, set in the ’30s. The Strange Brigade is a group of four dashing British competitors of Indiana Jones with a better fashion sense, fancier accents and the ability and willingless to use real weapons. They are sent out to “investigate” mysterious happenings across the British Empire. In the episode we got to play, we were sent to Egypt where we were confronted with Egyp’s finest: mummies, angry gigantic statues coming to life, a lot of sand and dudes in cool Egyptian hats who were really angry.

The episode gave us an idea of what to expect: a fun, exciting action game that we’ll certainly be following up closer. The setting, gameplay and graphics all looked fine. The only “downside” was that neither Kenny or I had an idea what to do with the X prompt. As it turned out, we both tried to instinctively push the “X” button on our Xbox Controller. Which is a problem when you are using a PS4 controller.

Certainly a game to watch, especially with four-player co-op. Seems like an interesting adventure title!

Xbox One X Experience

Next stop; The Xbox booth! We lined up for the Xbox One X Experience. Apparently, you needed to get a “ticket” for a time slot. We missed that announcement completely. Didn’t see a sign about it whatsoever, but we were saved by two kind strangers. They asked if we had a ticket, we said “Uh… no” and we were handed one. Thanks, kind stranger!

After waiting for a while (and seeing the E3 press conference play on the screens that we’ve already seen before) we were taken to a small theatre. In there, we were treated to an eargasm as Microsoft used Dolby Atmos to blow our mind during a short movie about the Xbox One X. It was the same trailer we’d seen before. Or so says Kenny, who has an actual memory for those things. But it didn’t matter because the presentation was so mind blowing that we said to each other that we wouldn’t mind sitting there for half an hour. Just watching trailers.

We thought that was it, but we were wrong. We were taken to another room where we could try out the Xbox One X himself! We tried some World Of Tanks and got to play the brand new War Stories mode which might get me to install the game. I mean, who says no to free single player games? Not me.

While I can’t compare with World Of Tanks on the “Old Xbox One” the graphics looked crisp and smooth. And we finally got to use a controller we were familiar with.

But wait, there’s more! Because in the next room we were given a goodie bag, which included a Project Scorpio poster, Xbox One X Sunglasses (for enhanced solar rays), a Design Lab pin (Yay, pins!), some batteries and a month of GamePass – we’d rack up three months of free GamePass over the course of GamesCom. We also scored a set of Halo Megablox and Kenny got a pair of slippers. Unfortunately, they ran out of my size. But that’s okay. Real men dress up to play Xbox anyway.

Okay, that’s not true. I was just excited to get the rest of the stuff and I don’t wear slippers anyway.

Nerd Shirts

After testing Strange Brigade and the Xbox One X experience we fought our way to Hall 10, where we plundered the merchandise booths. We both brought home a few cool shirts from the guys at Game Legends (Feel free to sponsor me next time, so, y’know, I can buy more shirts!) that’ll be getting some airtime soon.

There is a lot of merchandise to choose from at GamesCom. In fact, the entire hall dwarfs that of ComicCon Brussels. Which, let’s be honest, was just a bunch of booths where you can buy gaming stuff. Except the offering at GamesCom is far bigger and far more interesting. If you are into gaming “culture” and Anime. And if you are not into gaming culture, then GamesCom might’ve been the wrong place for you to be at anyway!

After getting our gear, we went for a snack. We saw someone cosplayed as Cinderella order “pommes”. Ariel was also wandering around there somewhere. And there was someone with an… Onyx costume, where he sort of tried to strangle her like an Anaconda? Some people are into weird shit.

Virtual Reality Fruit Ninja

Kenny has been dieing to try VR since two GamesCom’s ago and we decided that Friday would be the day. We had spotted a booth with a short wait. Over at Lenovo’s Legion booth, he got to try the VR version of Fruit Ninja’s. He can now officially say he’s played every version of the game in existence.

He described it as a cool, interesting experience which was pretty immersive. I have a video recording of him waving his arms around in an attempt to slice fruit. Since he always drives to GamesCom I will not be posting that video. I don’t want to end up in the trunk next year.

Sea Of Thieves

Around 2PM we started queuing for Sea Of Thieves. We considered trying the game last year, but this would be the year. The line was suspiciously slow to move, however. We joked that this would be a four hour queue and in the end it actually took us four hours.

But that’s all part of the GamesCom game. You need to dedicate yourself to wait for a few hours for at least one title. Why else are you going to GamesCom? We entertained ourselves like old school gamers do, playing Tetris on the original Gameboy and the likes.

After a long wait, it was our turn. We got to play a mission under guidance of a Rare employee. She apologised for her poor English after she tried to help both us and a German guy. There was really no need to apologise, though. Other than not knowing the word “bucket” her English was actually really good. I almost felt bad for not being more responsive. But that’s just me! I hate speaking using words!

The first thing I noticed is that while there was a keyboard and mouse, you could also use the controller. They both responded immediately, which is cool!

We got to play a mission, so we teamed up and fared our ship to an Island where we fought a ship and searched for treasure which we returned. It was pretty entertaining and gave us a really good glimpse of the game. We’d timed the demo. No wonder this was one of the longer lines, because you were allowed to play for half an hour which is pretty amazing.

Playing Sea Of Thieves was certainly a great experience. Both the game and the booth looked amazing. And we didn’t leave with empty hands. While waiting we already got a Pirate Fan – or, as I liked to call it a fan for pirate fans -, a eye patch and a tattoo sleeve. I immediately abused this tattoo sleeve to give my dear mother a heart attack by Whatsapping that both me and my brother got a tattoo sleeve at GamesCom. It was technically true, which is the best kind of true!

After playing the game we also got a Sea Of Thieves themed USB Stick. I’m ashamed to admit that I still have to look whether my or Kenny’s copy contains the footage of the gameplay. Doesn’t matter, have kickass USB stick!

Forza 7

We ended the day on a fast note, by stopping over at Forza 7. It was already late and a lot of people had left already. But true veterans use that opportunity to snipe one last game. The line was really short, so we quickly got to try Forza 7. It feels like every other Forza game (sorry, Turn 10) but it looked amazing!

Oh, and kudos for the lady in the race jacket. That is one amazing looking Turn 10 / Forza 7 jacket; For a minute I thought she was cosplaying a race driver and playing the game. Nope. Staff in an awesome jacket and distributor of cool pins.

After Forza 7 we were tired and raced home. While on the way back, and trying to recover we already discussed next years’ GamesCom. Are we going again? That’s not even a question. The real question is “How many games are we going, and how amazing is it going to be next time.” Very. The answer is very.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-part-ii/feed/0118Journey to GamesCom 2017, Truly the “Heart of Gaming”https://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-2017-truly-heart-gaming/
https://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-2017-truly-heart-gaming/#respondSat, 26 Aug 2017 11:21:43 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=102When you think of the summer, visiting a conference where you’ll be inside 90% of the time might be the last thing on your mind. However, that is exactly what…

]]>When you think of the summer, visiting a conference where you’ll be inside 90% of the time might be the last thing on your mind. However, that is exactly what has been on my mind for the last month, month and a half as GamesCom was coming closer.

GamesCom, the biggest European gaming conference for consumers – although GamesCom prefers to just call us gamers – was opening its doors to thousands of people who wanted to experience the latest games. To quote an Inside Xbox persona: “I was there.” And with me was Kenny, my brother (in arms).

This was our fourth time we visited GamesCom. You could call us veterans at this point. So we came prepared this year.

Lazy “cosplay” for the first day? Check

Lots of water? Check.

Cash for the GamesCom shirt and some other gear? Check

Tickets for two days? You bet!

Foldable “fisherman” chair? Sure thing!

Mind set on gaming while preparing some (or a lot of) waiting? Check!

Day One – We’re on a scouting mission

We headed to GamesCom on Thursday. Getting there is easy enough. Unfortunately, we couldn’t repeat our “mistake” of last year where we took a wrong exit ended up parking on top of the conference center, but as it turns out that wasn’t even a bad thing.

After hopping on the bus we arrived at the Gates Of GamesCom. We were a bit “late” but there was still a line to get in. We decided to spend our time wisely by getting our bracelets. Yes, we heard you info lady. We can get those bracelets inside. But if you’re waiting, you might as well be waiting for something useful!

I almost forgot an important part. Let’s roll back a little and explain how entering GamesCom works.

First we passed the German police protecting the area. Thanks, dudes! Then we were asked to show our tickets. Since they were all sold out, they wanted to filter out people that would try and get tickets still (which, on most days, isn’t going to happen.) After that, our bags were checked. Me and Kenny were both carrying backpacks (to store the water and the likes) so we had to pass the checkpost. It went really fast, though, as there were at least a hundred security people checking bags. They seemed okay with the contents, so we moved on.

Things were a little more complicated on the second day, as they removed a suspicious item from our bag. They took a look at the cannister, and when they read the words “Coca Cola” they probably thought “Huh.” Well, it’s better to be safe and sorry. Those cans do actually kind of look like IED’s if we are getting sinister…

After that, there was the checkpost to enter, another queuee and then you had to scan your tickets. And you’re inside!

Our game plan was the same as last year. We decided to walk around and see everything that GamesCom had to offer. As we passed stands we got an image of games we wanted to see, and merchandise we wanted to buy.

When you are heading to GamesCom, be prepared. Bring comfortable shoes. I wore my hiking shoes on both days, and for a good reason: walking all across the conference halls took us a good four and a half hours. At the end of the day we’d walked 9.5 kilometers. GamesCom isn’t for the faint of heart that prefer to sit down 24/7!

The thing is, you really want to know what you can see. Of course you can also use the app which lists both developers and titles but we prefer doing our scouting manually. This would pay off big time the next day.

After wandering around – and some expensive GamesCom food – we decided to try and get some gate time in.

Battlefront II and it’s cool booth awaited us

There is little point in telling you which vendors and games were there. All the big names are present and if a game is upcoming or highly expected, then you can probably play it in some form. Some games could be played at multiple stands – often at the stands of the many hardware suppliers that also attend GamesCom. Because it’s not just video game developers. Alienware, Alternate, Samsung, MSI, Intel and even Lenovo came to praise their products. Services like Twitch and Mixer were demonstrating their technical ability live. And some companies saw the value of reaching a new audience.

Not only was the Germany army and (what I assume was) their Secret Service present (The army had a slogan saying “Even if you dislike us, we are protecting your right to do so), along with some other companies. Ford was also there, challenging gamers to beat the track record in a racing game and showcasing their two cars that would fit right in at any racing game, the Ford Focus RS and the Ford Fiesta. Their presence didn’t even feel out of place for a bit.

But I’m losing track of where I was heading. Games. Tons and tons of video games.

The first game we decided we’d give a shot was EA / Dice’s Battlefront II. The booths of EA are always big and impressive, and allow a lot of players to play at once. If my math isn’t off they were able to host 2×100 gamers at once.

Queueing is never super pleasant, but we were prepared. As we got near the entrance, a mystery was solved: “Why am I hearing the theme song of the Empire every once in a while?” It seemed out of context.

Until we got close, and saw that the song was played when the door opened to allow gamers entry. The entrance was modeled after a Star Wars “port” and inside it, Storm Troopers pointed you into the right direction. If I had awards to hand out, I would give Battlefront II the award for the booth that sticked best to the theme.

We got to play the new game mode, the space fights. First, we got an introduction in a short movie. After that, we rolled out for 10v10 space battle goodness.

The gameplay was really solid. The controls felt great (even though it was a Playstation 4 controller), the game looked good and the space battles were fun and exciting. I would almost dare to say that they could make a stand alone game out of it. But I don’t want to give Dice any ideas. All in all, it looks like this game mode is going to be pretty cool and we were happy that we took the plunge.

The only one downside was that one of the hosts was a bit stressed out, to say the least. Yes, lady. We know how to get up and orderly exit a room. Thank for the reminder, though.

Cuphead and the feeling of shame

Next, we went to the Microsoft booth to see what game we could put our hands on. In the meanwhile we were given a code for GamePass (we ended up getting three in total over the two days). Damn you, Microsoft and your goodies. Now I have no excuse not to try it. Microsoft was rather generous this year. Oh, and their booth looked amazing as well. I’ve tried to take a picture but there is no way you can cover their entire booth in one shot.

Microsoft had brought the Xbox One X, Recore, Super Lucky’s Tale, Sea Of Thieves, some indie games (including PUBG), Forza 7, the Design Lab and more to the show. And they had a stage where something was going on non stop. Music, dancing, dance battles with prices, constantly letting people know that Spotify is now on Xbox – it was all there. It seems odd for Microsoft to celebrate the arrival of a competitor to Groove Music but they seem to really be putting the gamer first – and the gamer has been asking for a way to listen to Spotify for a long time.

Our eye landed on Cuphead, a game that netiher Kenny or me was planning on buying. In the E3 trailer, the game seemed too… chaotic and unpleasant for my reason. Maybe seeing the trailer one time too many made me dislike it, but we gave it a shot anyway.

And truth be told, we were wrong. Very, very wrong. Cuphead is actually a very entertaining platformer with an old school vibe. The theme stops being “weird as hell” once you are actually experiencing it. The use of an overworld made me think of Super Mario Bross III for a bit.

The level we played was pretty straight forward. We had to fight our way through the woods. However, that took us longer than we wanted. It took us a while to understand the movements of the enemies and find a strategy that works. Even when there were two of us we still let the bad guys surprise us. We are already thinking of strategies should we (or one of us) buy the game when it comes out.

When we finally managed to finish the level, we got the score of D-. At the bottom, we noticed that one of the reasons was the difficulty modifier. We had been playing the game on the normal mode and the game had kicked our ass! Cuphead is going to be an interesting, unique and challenging game for sure. And next time we’ll be prepared for your anthics, bad guys. Mark my words.

Heading back

The first day of GamesCom is always a bit more challenging for us than the second because of all the walking. So we left around 6.50 and headed back home, tired but satisfied and knowing that we would have a whole second day to experience GamesCom and what it had to offer.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/journey-gamescom-2017-truly-heart-gaming/feed/0102Microsoft surprises fans as four AOE games are announcedhttps://testedbygeeks.com/microsoft-surprises-fans-four-aoe-games-announced/
https://testedbygeeks.com/microsoft-surprises-fans-four-aoe-games-announced/#respondTue, 22 Aug 2017 07:46:15 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=97Yesterday, Microsoft held an Age Of Empires Live event at GamesCon to celebrate the 20th anniversiry of Age Of Empires. Wait, Age Of Empires is twenty years old? I suddenly…

]]>Yesterday, Microsoft held an Age Of Empires Live event at GamesCon to celebrate the 20th anniversiry of Age Of Empires. Wait, Age Of Empires is twenty years old? I suddenly feel very old. Who knew that a games conference could give you existential angst.

The “main event” was going to be the announcement of the release date for Age Of Empires: Definitive Edition. This game is a remastered version of the classic: New graphics, new score, new and modern multiplayer. Still the same gamplay we all loved and spent countless ours on. Wololo shouts were heard in the audience (they sounded horrible, by the way.).

However, that was not the “Big, special announcement” that Microsoft had in mind. After all, we’d all known that the remastered version of Age 1 was coming. No, they had something completely different up their sleeve.

Near the end of the show, Microsoft dropped a bomb shell. They not only announced the released the release date of the Definitive Edition of Age 1.While they were at it, they also announced that they will be remastering Age Of Empires 2 and Age Of Empires 3 whom will get the same treatment (new graphics, music, …).

But wait, there is more!

While the audience was already thinking “Holy shit, that’s a lot of Age Of Empires announcements” they kept something else up their sleeve. All evening long, Microsoft had been talking about how much they appreciate PC gamers and the Age Of Empires fans. And they had an extra surprise in store.

Out of nowhere, Microsoft announced that Relic Entertainment (of Dawn of War fame) has started development on Age Of Empires IV. It’s still early days so only a brief trailer was shown, but the crowd went wololo.

So, there you have it. On an evening where Microsoft was expected to give us the date of Age Of Empires: Definitive Edition they announced two other remastered versions and a brand new Age Of Empires IV. Are you surprised? I sure was.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/microsoft-surprises-fans-four-aoe-games-announced/feed/097The Fidget Spinner Hype Already Dead?https://testedbygeeks.com/fidget-spinner-hype-already-dead/
https://testedbygeeks.com/fidget-spinner-hype-already-dead/#respondWed, 21 Jun 2017 07:44:09 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=93Yesterday, I read a news article which states that the fidget spinner hype is already over. Just last week, I was strolicking through a German city center and walked past…

]]>Yesterday, I read a news article which states that the fidget spinner hype is already over. Just last week, I was strolicking through a German city center and walked past stores proudly displaying their goods. Spinners in all kinds of colors. Fancy metal ones. Spinners in different shapes. The vendors seemed to push the product really hard. And who can really blame them?

For those of you that are still out of the loop, a fidget spinner is a plastic / metal toy. By pushing on one of the “blades” the thing starts to spin really fast. Basically that was all that was to them. I’ve heard that there’s people that did tricks with them. That there’s plenty of videos about them on Youtube.

Of course there’s videos about them on Youtube. Youtube caters to the young and the whimsical, after all.

I am not sure where the craze about the fidget spinners came from. I am guessing that it started with a few kids bringing them to school and that it snowballed from there.

However, it wasn’t really unexpected that the hype would die out soon. There isn’t really anything you can do with a fidget spinner. Other than, you know, spin it around. I doubt there were big trade networks, or spinners that were more desired than others. You couldn’t do spinner battles with your peers. It wasn’t designed to do that.

Originally, the fidget spinners were designed to help children with ADHD. They were supposed to help them focus. Of course, the opposite happened and they became a distraction in classes instead for the “regular kids”.

As someone who enjoys the daily struggle with ADD, I can tell you that the fidget spinners didn’t miss their effect on me. If I had it on me, the spinning object would be captivating. It wasn’t really the act of spinning it that kept me distracted. Instead, it was the spinning that held my attention. I watched it spin and spin and spin instead of getting antsy. Before I knew it, we arrived to our destination, or the wait was over.

A figurative fidget spinner

If the hype really is over, then there are vendors that are going to have a stock problem. That’s the problem with hypes. It’s hard to predict when they’ve peaked. The windows in which money can be made is becoming shorter and shorter, it seems. Maybe it’s because my memories are hazy, but the Flippo’s haze (round “circles” which you collected or used to hold “flippo battles” each other), Tamagotchi, and other hypes seemed to last longer when I was a kid.

Maybe it’s all the internets’ fault. Perhaps it’s time we find some sort of figurative fidget spinner so we can focus on something for longer than two to three months.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/fidget-spinner-hype-already-dead/feed/093Review: Super Mario Run – A cheap money grab?https://testedbygeeks.com/review-super-mario-run-cheap-money-grab/
https://testedbygeeks.com/review-super-mario-run-cheap-money-grab/#respondSun, 18 Dec 2016 20:06:19 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=86Very few games in the Apple App Store get the privilege of being announced well ahead of their arrival. Super MARIO Run was given this honor because it was Nintendo’s first…

]]>Very few games in the Apple App Store get the privilege of being announced well ahead of their arrival. Super MARIO Run was given this honor because it was Nintendo’s first official landing in the mobile.

Super Mario is a “running game”, with the unique selling point that it features the world’s most famous plumber, Mario himself. The flagship character for the Japanese gaming company was supposed to spearhead Nintendo’s arrival on tablets and smartphones worldwide.

Unfortunately, Mario doesn’t quite jump far enough to save the game.

Uninspired Money Grab

Do we really need to tell you what the story of this Mario game is? Princess Peach invites Mario to castle. Browser shows up, and kidnaps Princess. Mario has to save her once again.

To do so, you will navigate through levels that are themed after the Mario games. The gameplay is also more or less similar to that of the Nintendo games. You jump a lot. Basically, jumping is all you do.

Super Mario run isn’t exactly ground breaking or original. The only action you can undertake is jumping (and grabbing coins while doing so). Sometimes, Mario will do the jumping for you. He’ll automatically jump over small obstacles and over ground-bound enemies. For some reason, that took some of the fun out of the game since there isn’t much more to do than jumping.

All things considered, Super Mario Run doesn’t really offer anything that other iOS games doesn’t offer. Replace Mario with some other dude, and it’s a game on the level of Monster Dash or the billions of “jumping guy” games in either App Store.

But hey, at least the game is free right?

Super Mario Run: Insert Coins To Continue

Wrong. After three really short levels which accumulate perhaps three minutes of game time, you are politely told that you need to pay a cool €9,99 to unlock the other worlds. Perhaps that would have been acceptable, if we hadn’t see the game in ten different skins before, or if it didn’t cost four times as much as the average competitor.

The short demo of three levels didn’t leave us wanting for more, so when we were presented with the screen below that kindly asked us to pay up, we closed the app and removed it. We’re going to keep playing Microsoft Solitair if that’s all right by you, Nintendo.

It appears that, behind the paywall, even more micro transactions are lurking. We already got a taste of some mechanics that imply that coins (and the lack of them) are playing a key part in progressing in the game. We’d have loved to find out more, but y’know. The price isn’t right.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/review-super-mario-run-cheap-money-grab/feed/086TIL OneNote can embed Spotify songs, control playerhttps://testedbygeeks.com/til-onenote-can-embed-spotify-songs-control-player/
https://testedbygeeks.com/til-onenote-can-embed-spotify-songs-control-player/#respondWed, 30 Nov 2016 21:22:05 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=81Today, I was trying to save a song from Spotify. However, I didn’t feel like saving it in Spotify. Despite all it’s virtues and features, I find their option to…

]]>Today, I was trying to save a song from Spotify. However, I didn’t feel like saving it in Spotify. Despite all it’s virtues and features, I find their option to do so lacking.

Since I had OneNote open, I figured I could make a “section” for songs, and save them there. When I did I learned about one of the hidden gems of OneNote.

After pasting the link, OneNote embedded a Spotify player for the song. The player can start the song in your Spotify player and it can pause / resume the song. It made me curious about what other hidden features there are in OneNote.

Since we were in full “curious” mode we also figured out how to make a high quality gif. You can see OneNote do it’s thing below.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/til-onenote-can-embed-spotify-songs-control-player/feed/081Aukey AMZDEAL USB Charger review justhttps://testedbygeeks.com/aukey-amzdeal-usb-charger-review/
https://testedbygeeks.com/aukey-amzdeal-usb-charger-review/#respondSun, 10 Apr 2016 18:01:38 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=78There are some things in life that you just can’t spend money on. How can you justify spending like, ten euros on an USB cable when the basic cable is…

]]>There are some things in life that you just can’t spend money on. How can you justify spending like, ten euros on an USB cable when the basic cable is just fine? Or how can you sink a hundred dollars in domain names? Okay, guilty of that one.

Anyway, when I was in the market for an USB charger for my various devices I thought I’d go cheap. Having had good experiences with Amazon Basic USB cables, I figured I might as well go cheap on a multi purpose charger. One that would let me charge multiple devices at once. Because you know you’re not a real geek when you don’t have to charge at least one tablet and two different phones at night to test different setups. Or is that just me?

Introducing the AMZDEAL Aukey USB Charger.

Anyway, I bough an “AMEDEAL” USB charger for under ten euros from Amazon. Naive as I was I somehow assumed that Amazon had something to do with the devices, so I figured that after the cable success I would be in the clear.

Well, initially there weren’t any problems with the USB charger. It did it’s thing, which is charging multiple devices at once. My only nuissance was the shitty built in LED that lit up the entire room at night. Hello, device people, some people try to sleep in the room where they’re trying to charge their devices because their phone doubles as their alarm clock in the morning.

Until last week, when the connectors of the chargers literally decided to bend out of shape. Making it virtually impossible to put it in the socket. And as you all know, that’s sort of a base requirement for using electricity.

I figured, “Hey, bad luck, shit happens”, and I decided to go cheap again by buying the same charger. I found out it was actually made by Aukey which seems to be some sort of company that not only builds, but also designs their stuff in China based off plans of North Korean scientists, but I figured that nothing could go wrong

So when I bought the charger – and an SD card because who wants to pay a €3 shipping fee for a €9 charger – and received it I happily assumed I would once more let my devices lavish themselves on the source of eternal electricity, but helas.

This new charger was even more broken than the older one. Y’see, the connectors’ pins seem to be loose. You could physically push them back in the charger. Which means there’s no way to connect it into the socket.

Bottom line, the USB chargers from Aukey… Well, they blow. I mean, I could try and buy a third one and hope that I fare better this time but I decided to bite the bullet and ordered a €30 charger from a local webshop. Maybe I’ll do a review of that one soon. It’s an XTORM. Coolest name ever, right?

Anyway, I decided to experiment a little and make a video of the “experience” with the charger. You won’t see me try to jam it into the socket, risking life and limbs. And you’ll likely hear my eldrich horror of a voice, which according to some people is a worse punishment than (insert something bad here).

Here’s the video. Enjoy!

Conclusion:

Aukey AMZDEAL USB chargers are, well, not very great, and you’re better off using that €9 to bet on the lottery instead of hoping that one will serve you longer than six months. You’re better off buying another one from the get-go.

]]>A few weeks ago, I was refreshing away on Twitter (hit me up, I’m @torettox84) when a Promoted tweet mentioned ComicCon Brussels being in March. I didn’t realize this was a thing, so I contacted my brother and bro-op partner @kenobixions, to see if he wanted to go.

Him being a bigger nerd than I am, was immediately interested, and he ordered the tickets. And it’s all downhill from there. Just kidding, or am I?

Comiccon Brussels, where geeks meet… vendors?

Tickets for CCBX were €15, which is more than we usually pay for Gamescon tickets. Gamescon is our “holy grail” – we’ll be visiting the gaming walhalla for the third time this year – so that already made us raise an eyebrow. We remembered another event in Brussels, that was a “Gaming Event” which translated to four game development companies and a literal stand for MediaMarket, a retailer for electronics and the likes.

So, we head to Brussels, and we manage to get there in one piece. We could use the parking under the event hall itself which was pretty nice. Walking distance was a few hundred meters, and that’s where the queuing started. After waiting in a rapidly advancing line for thirty or so minutes, we could enter the hall and we were ready to breathe in the nerddom.

What we usually like to do is scout the area before committing to doing something. After having spotted a Witcher necklace and some shot glasses dedicated to the Purple Prince of Darkness, the Joker, we thought we were going to see the awesome stuff.

Wrong. So very, very wrong

Comiccon Brussels can be summarized in a few bullet points.

Vendors of merchandise. Lots of them

C-list celebrities.

Entertainment. Well, not really.

The entire main hall was dedicated to vendors of the same products. Shirts, toys, and other merchandise. Surprisingly few Manga, or actual comics caught our atention. It all became sort of a blur as they all pushed the same merchandise with the exception of maybe two or three vendors.

I remember seeing someone sell “mead” and other related, RPG-y brews which was interesting. There were replicas of game weapons, a vendor of wooden sculptures and the rest was “generic convention stuff”. You could compare it to the Merchandise hall of Gamescon, if you ignore that the Gamescon secion had way more variety.

After having cruised past the vendors and buying something each – K bought the Joker shot glasses and bought the Witcher necklace from one of the few vendors who actually seemed to enjoy being there (he made a sales pitch like “So, this item is magic, helps with spells, and leads to adventures… I’ll sell it for €9…”) we were basically done.

There were two artists signing their work. I don’t know a lot about comics, so that might’ve been a missed opportunity. Still. Two artists? That’s, well… underwhelming.

And then came the money grab alley. First there was the photo boot, where you could make a photo of yourself and a C-list celebrity – believe me, fellow nerds, I am not a series buff but they really are obscure as fuck – for “only €20”.

Want to know what would have been better value for your money than spending that $20? Taking a picture of one of the cosplay players. They were there, and the costumes weren’t all fantastic, but hey, that’s life. And no, a FREAKING CHARIZARD ONESIE is not COSPLAYING. That’s just walking around in a pyjama. I dared K to pull the tail of Charizard but he refused. Coward.

And if taking selfies with C-list celebrities isn’t sad enough, there was a sadder option. There were five or six actors from “The Empire Strikes Back” whose signature you could acquire for €20.

“OH MY GOD, THAT IS SO EXCITING.”

Except it’s not.

I’m not a big Star Wars buff. I’ve seen all the movies (Saw the Force Awakens twice in theatres because I could), I know all the characters, I know the storylines and played some game. I know stuff. But I’m not a buff like my brother, K. He read books on Star Wars. He owns a freakin’ Encyclopedia ‘nd shit.

And not even him recognized the C-list celebrities.

Want to make it sadder? There were boards behind each actor to point out who they played. And EVEN THEN, none of the characters rung a bell, which makes me assume they’re the sort of “actors” that try to bank on the fact that they appeared in a popular movie franchise for ten seconds.

One of them played a Storm Trooper. And a Snow Trooper. And basically, all sorts of generic trooper. Talk about dragging people to a Con just because they were in a movie.

Anyway, after passing the C-list Celebrity Hall Of Lame, we headed to the entertainment hall, realized there was literally nothing interesting to do there (The gaming zone was two Xboxes. We counted them. Okay, we guestimated). The stage for the musicians was the size of your bed room. The booze and food was overprized.

Conclusion

Going to Comiccon Brussels was something I wanted to do, because I’m trying to make 2016 a year where I do all sorts of things. But, if I’ve got to be blunt… Comiccon Brussels is basically an overpriced fair where everyone is selling the same product, and where people who thing they’re important because of that thing they did get their minute in the spotlight.

]]>https://testedbygeeks.com/comiccon-brussels-2016-review/feed/074Dragon Age Inquisitionhttps://testedbygeeks.com/dragon-age-inquisition/
https://testedbygeeks.com/dragon-age-inquisition/#respondThu, 26 Mar 2015 20:23:15 +0000https://testedbygeeks.com/?p=70I’m aware that Dragon Age: Inquisition was released over a hundred days ago, but a “Write review of DA:I has been in my “to-do app” ever since, so I figured…

]]>I’m aware that Dragon Age: Inquisition was released over a hundred days ago, but a “Write review of DA:I has been in my “to-do app” ever since, so I figured I’d write a super short review. So, if you’re reading this… Yup. Late.

The Dragon Age Inquisition story

After a “terrorist attack” on a peace conclave between Mages and Templars, the Dragon Age universe groans under a civil war. As if that wasn’t enough, mysterious rifts have appeared in the sky, through which demons enter the realm. It’s not a great time to be alive, especially if you’re DA:I’s main character whom is arrested on suspicion of being the one behind the attack on the conclave which costed the live of many people.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a top class RPG which checks all the boxes: a great story, interesting quests and side-quests and a rich lore. Couple that with good gameplay mechanics and a return to a more strategic combat system – a mix between the brainless button bashing of DA:2 and DA:O where you can freeze time to move around your characters and give them orders – and you’ve got yourself another Bioware classic, which you can enjoy for hundreds of hours.

At least, on the single player side of things. The multiplayer, which puts four players in a “dungeon” shows promise, but suffers from lag (and lots of it) which made enjoying, or even playing, the multiplayer part, near impossible. But if we look past the lag, the MP has / had a lot of potential to be a lot of fun.

Conclusion: Of course I’m ridiculously late with my review. But if you’re wondering whether to buy Dragon Age: Inquisition or not, take my word for it: Dragon Age Inquisition is a fantastic game, well worth your money and time.